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Two mates good for endangered parrots

ANY would-be kakapo mother should sleep around a bit – even if biologists have to help her do it.

Females of the critically endangered New Zealand bird are more likely to succeed in fertilising their eggs if they have mated twice. So next summer, when the fat, flightless, nocturnal parrots are expected to breed again, the New Zealand Department of Conservation is considering artificially inseminating any birds that don’t take a second mate on their own.

Kakapo need all the help they can get&colon; there are only 86 of them. Last summer just 11 of 27 eggs laid were fertile. Six …